A few photos from the White House Easter Egg Roll

I was lucky enough to get a few tickets to the White House Easter Egg Roll on Monday, which of course now means that I'll never question anything the President says or does ever again, and I no longer want my civil rights.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way....

The ever-popular Elmo

I went with my neighbor and her son, who is one year's old, and who surprisingly had a really good time. I was concerned that a one year old would be a tad too young to appreciate the festivities, but even a one year old gets Elmo, and can have fun dyeing an Easter Egg (though from his perspective, we were playing a really fun game with colored plastic pieces you squeeze and throw around the table).

Now, we weren't permitted to cover the event - no media. They didn't even want us tweeting from the event. I think the idea was to make it a day about kids, not about getting press coverage. And that's totally cool. It was a day about kids, 35,000 of them, not stampeding journalists looking for the best shot or interview.

Fortunately we were broken down into group and each group got tickets for a different two hour time slot throughout the day. I was given permission to post a few of my photos, so long as I didn't really "cover" the event, so you're only getting four photos that I actually took for myself and my friend, and one of those photos is of a plant. And I'm not going to walk you through the day and the event, which I would have liked to.

Wisteria going up the steps to the Oval Office patio.

It was a nice time. Lots of different things for the kids to do, lots of cartoon characters to get their photos with. And lots of volunteers to take photos of you and the family all together, with the White House behind you, which was really a brilliant and thoughtful addition.

The only thing they could do better is to indicate on the White House Web site exactly what you can bring to the event.

They tell you that you can't bring open food or water, or knapsacks (my friend wasn't sure if she could bring diapers, and where to put them if she couldn't bring a bag). We weren't sure what any of it meant - can we we not bring any water or food at all? Can my friend bring Cheerios for the kid to snack on? How about his milk? We were going to be there at lunch time How is a one year old going to make it through five to six hours, from the time we left home to the time we got back home, without food and water? Would they have food and water there? No one could tell us. Could we bring the baby stroller? No idea, and when we called, again no one knew. There was ample bottled water, which was great and well done (though they should tell people there will be beverages), but only a piece of fruit per child, none for the adults. I started to have a low blood sugar attack at around 2pm (which figures, since I hadn't eaten since 10am, and didn't bring my usual snacks to make it through without an attack since I was told not to bring food) and had to literally beg for one of the kids' apples, which was kind of embarrassing. The woman doling them out begrudgingly gave me one.

The view from the Easter Egg dyeing table.
(click image for larger version)

Other than that, it was an incredibly well planned event, not surprising for something at the White House. All the staff were absurdly nice and friendly, as was the security from the Secret Service and the Park Service (both were really nice and friendly). Definitely one of those rare Washington moments that remind you that it can be cool living in this God-forsaken town. If only the other 364 days weren't so lousy.

I was lucky enough to get a few tickets to the White House Easter Egg Roll on Monday, which of course now means that I'll never question anything the President says or does ever again, and I no longer want my civil rights.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way....

The ever-popular Elmo

I went with my neighbor and her son, who is one year's old, and who surprisingly had a really good time. I was concerned that a one year old would be a tad too young to appreciate the festivities, but even a one year old gets Elmo, and can have fun dyeing an Easter Egg (though from his perspective, we were playing a really fun game with colored plastic pieces you squeeze and throw around the table).

Now, we weren't permitted to cover the event - no media. They didn't even want us tweeting from the event. I think the idea was to make it a day about kids, not about getting press coverage. And that's totally cool. It was a day about kids, 35,000 of them, not stampeding journalists looking for the best shot or interview.

Fortunately we were broken down into group and each group got tickets for a different two hour time slot throughout the day. I was given permission to post a few of my photos, so long as I didn't really "cover" the event, so you're only getting four photos that I actually took for myself and my friend, and one of those photos is of a plant. And I'm not going to walk you through the day and the event, which I would have liked to.

Wisteria going up the steps to the Oval Office patio.

It was a nice time. Lots of different things for the kids to do, lots of cartoon characters to get their photos with. And lots of volunteers to take photos of you and the family all together, with the White House behind you, which was really a brilliant and thoughtful addition.

The only thing they could do better is to indicate on the White House Web site exactly what you can bring to the event.

They tell you that you can't bring open food or water, or knapsacks (my friend wasn't sure if she could bring diapers, and where to put them if she couldn't bring a bag). We weren't sure what any of it meant - can we we not bring any water or food at all? Can my friend bring Cheerios for the kid to snack on? How about his milk? We were going to be there at lunch time How is a one year old going to make it through five to six hours, from the time we left home to the time we got back home, without food and water? Would they have food and water there? No one could tell us. Could we bring the baby stroller? No idea, and when we called, again no one knew. There was ample bottled water, which was great and well done (though they should tell people there will be beverages), but only a piece of fruit per child, none for the adults. I started to have a low blood sugar attack at around 2pm (which figures, since I hadn't eaten since 10am, and didn't bring my usual snacks to make it through without an attack since I was told not to bring food) and had to literally beg for one of the kids' apples, which was kind of embarrassing. The woman doling them out begrudgingly gave me one.

The view from the Easter Egg dyeing table.
(click image for larger version)

Other than that, it was an incredibly well planned event, not surprising for something at the White House. All the staff were absurdly nice and friendly, as was the security from the Secret Service and the Park Service (both were really nice and friendly). Definitely one of those rare Washington moments that remind you that it can be cool living in this God-forsaken town. If only the other 364 days weren't so lousy.

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